Objective-C Language Server (objc-lsp)

First-class Objective-C language support for VS Code, built for iOS and macOS developers.

Features

Language Support

Smart code completion — Multi-part selector completion with full fill-in (e.g. [tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:])
Go to definition / declaration — Jump to SDK symbols (UIView, UIBezierPath, etc.) without compile_commands.json; reads .xcodeproj directly
Hover documentation — Apple SDK docs with API availability and deprecation warnings
Diagnostics — Real-time compiler errors and warnings
Find references — Cross-file reference search
Rename — @property rename automatically coordinates getter, setter, backing ivar, and dot syntax in one operation
Formatting — clang-format-based code formatting
Document symbols — Class, method, and property outline for the current file
Workspace symbol search — Cross-file symbol search
Inlay hints — Inline type hints
Protocol stub generation — Auto-generate required protocol method stubs
Code actions — Quick-fix suggestions
Call hierarchy / Type hierarchy — Explore call chains and inheritance trees
Nullability checks — Detect missing nullability annotations (configurable)
Static analysis — Integrated clang --analyze on save (off by default, configurable)
.h file language detection — Correctly identifies .h files as Objective-C vs C, fixing a long-standing clangd limitation

VS Code-Specific Features

Code Snippets

26 snippets for common Objective-C patterns:

Prefix	Description
`prop`	Strong property
`propn`	Copy property (NSString, etc.)
`propw`	Weak property (for delegates)
`propa`	Assign property (primitives)
`propr`	Readonly property
`singleton`	`dispatch_once` singleton pattern
`weakSelf`	`__weak typeof(self) weakSelf = self;`
`strongSelf`	Promote weakSelf to strongSelf with nil guard
`block`	Block typedef declaration
`blockprop`	Block property declaration
`blocki`	Inline block literal
`protocol`	Full `@protocol` template
`implem`	`@implementation...@end` template
`interface`	`@interface...@end` template
`category`	Category template
`extension`	Class extension (anonymous category) template
`ifweak`	Nil guard for weakSelf
`dispatch_main`	`dispatch_async` to main queue
`dispatch_bg`	`dispatch_async` to background queue
`autorelease`	`@autoreleasepool` block
`synthesize`	`@synthesize property = _property`
`nslog`	NSLog format string
`init`	Standard `init` method template
`dealloc`	`dealloc` method template
`pragma`	`#pragma mark` section divider
`trycatch`	`@try/@catch/@finally` block

Code Lens

Displays annotations above methods — reference counts, protocol conformance status, and more. Toggle with objc-lsp.enableCodeLens.

Inline Decorators

Real-time inline warnings for common Objective-C pitfalls. Toggle with objc-lsp.enableDecorators.

⚠️ Retain cycle warning — Highlights self captured strongly inside a block, with a hover explanation and fix suggestion
⚠️ Strong delegate warning — Flags delegate / dataSource properties declared with strong (typically a retain cycle)
💡 Magic number hint — Suggests extracting hardcoded numeric literals into named constants

Symbols Outline — Symbol tree for the current file, grouped by #pragma mark, protocol, and category
Class Browser — Project-wide class hierarchy tree

Call Graph

Run ObjC: Show Call Graph to open an interactive webview showing method call relationships.

Extended Hover

Hover popups include related methods (clickable), API availability info, deprecation warnings, and quick-fix links. Toggle with objc-lsp.enableHoverExtensions.

Command Palette

Access via Cmd+Shift+P (macOS) or Ctrl+Shift+P (Linux):

Command	Description
`ObjC: Restart Language Server`	Restart the language server process
`ObjC: Show Language Server Output`	Open the server log panel
`ObjC: Report an Issue`	File a bug report on GitHub
`ObjC: Generate @property from ivar`	Generate a `@property` declaration from an instance variable
`ObjC: Wrap in @autoreleasepool`	Wrap selected code in an `@autoreleasepool` block
`ObjC: Wrap in dispatch_async (main queue)`	Wrap selected code in a main-queue `dispatch_async`
`ObjC: Add @synthesize`	Insert a `@synthesize` directive
`ObjC: Fix Retain Cycle (add weakSelf)`	Insert `weakSelf` to break a retain cycle
`ObjC: Extract Method`	Extract selected code into a new method
`ObjC: Refresh Class Browser`	Refresh the Class Browser tree
`ObjC: Show Call Graph`	Open the call graph webview

Installation

Build from Source

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/liuyanghejerry/Objective-C-LSP
cd objective-c-lsp

# 2. Build the language server (release build required)
cargo build --release --workspace

# 3. Build and install the VS Code extension
cd editors/vscode
npm install
node esbuild.mjs
npx vsce package --no-dependencies
code --install-extension objc-lsp-0.1.3.vsix --force

If the extension does not auto-discover the server binary, set the path in settings:

{
  "objc-lsp.serverPath": "/path/to/objective-c-lsp/target/release/objc-lsp"
}

Configuration

Setting	Type	Default	Description
`objc-lsp.serverPath`	string	`""`	Path to the `objc-lsp` binary. Leave empty to auto-discover.
`objc-lsp.logLevel`	string	`"info"`	Server log verbosity: `error` / `warn` / `info` / `debug`
`objc-lsp.extraCompilerFlags`	string[]	`[]`	Extra clang flags, e.g. `["-DDEBUG", "-I/usr/local/include"]`
`objc-lsp.enableNullabilityChecks`	boolean	`true`	Report missing nullability annotations
`objc-lsp.enableStaticAnalyzer`	boolean	`false`	Run `clang --analyze` on save (slower)
`objc-lsp.enableCodeLens`	boolean	`true`	Show Code Lens annotations above methods
`objc-lsp.enableDecorators`	boolean	`true`	Show inline decorators (retain cycles, magic numbers, etc.)
`objc-lsp.enableHoverExtensions`	boolean	`true`	Show extended hover information

Requirements

VS Code 1.85+
macOS — Xcode installed (provides libclang automatically)

Linux — libclang-dev installed:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install libclang-dev

# Fedora
sudo dnf install clang-devel

Platform Support

Platform	Status	Notes
macOS (Apple Silicon)	✅ Fully supported	Needs Xcode SDK installed.
macOS (Intel)	✅ Supported	Features implemented, testing needed on real hardware

License

The VS Code extension is free for personal and commercial use. See LICENSE for details.

Objective-C Language Server

liuyanghejerry